Love It, Leave It, Change It, Add It

Just last week, I was invited to take part in a new green initiative at work (pretty cool that they want the wellness coach in on the meeting, seeing a connection between personal wellness and environmental wellness). During the strategy session, we were asked various things about what’s already in place. Our facilitator broke it down to “Love It” or “Leave It.”

A lightbulb went off. What if I applied this to my own life? What great timing, it sounded like a fun way to craft some goals for 2017. I then created two more columns to hone in either further with “Change It” and “Add It.”

LOVE IT LEAVE IT CHANGE IT ADD IT

Love It: I find this to be really powerful. It helps us to celebrate our successes, our strengths, our passion and our love for the things in our life that give us happiness and fulfillment.

Leave It: Liberation! We get the chance to throw those things that are just not working for us overboard. We can declare the things we no longer want in our life.

Change It: OK, maybe there is something that is kinda working but needs some tweaking. For example, I LOVE yoga, but I need to carve out more time to get to class, the way I’m currently managing my schedule just isn’t working for me.

Add It: Here’s where we get a chance to dream for 2017. It’s where we add the missing pieces to our lives and use them as the template to create specific goals (and eventually get them over to the “Love It” column!).

Here’s a short example of what mine looks like Yours can be as short or long as you like.

The Wellness Vision

Using the chart above, it’s time to create a Wellness Vision. It’s a short statement that answers a simple, but very powerful question: What does your healthiest and happiest self look and feel like in one year from now?

Drawing from my chart, here’s an example of my Wellness Vision. You also want to keep it in the present tense, staying away from words like “I will” and using “I am” instead:

I am strong, confident, and fulfilled. I wake up looking forward to each day, ready to take charge and take action on what’s important to me. I am a lean and muscular 130 lbs. I eat fresh whole foods in moderation and maintain my weight without worry. I challenge myself with consistent physical activity that I love. I am a passionate artist and foster my creativity weekly. My life is full of flow.

Setting Your Goals: 3 Months and Week by Week

Now it’s time to break down your vision into smaller goals. First we start with a three month goal. For example, one of my three month goals is to take three yoga classes per week. I also want to make it SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time Bound). Instead of jumping into three classes right away, I’ll start with two classes per week to get started. Enough to keep it a stretch.

Weekly Action Steps

Now that I have a goal of taking two yoga classes this week, what are the steps I can take to achieve it? First, I’ll decide if I’d like to take classes near home or near work. OK, I’ll do one of each. Next, I’ll look up the schedules of each studio and book those classes into my work and personal calendars to make it a priority in my life. Lastly, I’ll ask myself two questions. First, is the goal is really important to me? YES. Am I very confident that I can do this. YES. Done!

I’ll go ahead and set two or three more goals based on my chart and wellness vision and follow the same steps.

My friends, this is how it works. Small steps, day by day, week by week, and month by month.